Plunder of the Earth

The clean image of the Naveen Patnaik Government could well be consigned to a bottomless pit if recent charges about the organised plunder of the state's precious mineral wealth manage to stick. As allegations of crores of rupees changing hands to permit illegal mining began flying thick and fast, the BJD Government ordered an inquiry by the Vigilance Directorate which has now exposed a syndicate-like nexus between politicians, mine operators and bureaucrats.

The directorate has filed an FIR against Indrani Patnaik who belongs to the family of former Congress minister Niranjan Patnaik (a relative of former chief minister J.B. Patnaik, now governor of Assam) and her Keonjhar-based company. If the scam has so far turned out to be "mother of all scams in the country", the predictable chaos in the Assembly and outside has added yet more controversy to the muddy politics of Orissa.

For nine years, the BJP was a ruling partner under whose nose the "loot" was going on, but none of its ministers, some of whom held important portfolios, found anything wrong. Now that they are in the Opposition, they are baying for the Government's blood. The chief minister's alter-ego and Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra, the man behind the BJD-BJP break-up, on the ground that BJP could never win more than eight seats on its own, attributes the BJP'S antagonism to the party's humiliating defeat in the elections.

When the Vigilance FIR stated that the illegal mining of iron ore by Indrani's company had caused a loss of about Rs 132 crore to the exchequer, both Congress whip Prasad Harichandan and BJP floor leader Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo alleged that the BJD Government tried to divert the issue when the scam was highlighted. They say it turned down the demand for a probe by a House Committee and when the demand for a CBI inquiry was raised, the chief minister announced an inquiry by the state Vigilance Directorate.

Opposition tantrums apart, the Indrani case exposes how mines were plundered with the full knowledge of the Government. Senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra said Indrani's application for a lease was recommended by the state government in 1997 (when J.B. Patnaik was chief minister) and Naveen, as the Union steel and mines minister, had granted her 'prospective lease'. Again in 2008, she was granted surface rights to operate the mines. Her company's main handler was Chennai-based Triveni Earth-Movers Pvt Ltd whose owner B. Prabhakaran was allegedly close to Pyarimohan.

Besides, according to the Mining Plan, Indrani's company was allowed to raise 2.10 lakh tonnes per annum but in three years it extracted 28 lakh tonnes. It paid royalty and other taxes for every tonne it raised, however. The same modus operandi was followed by others who paid a meagre royalty of Rs 29 per tonne and carted away mineral wealth. According to the Opposition, if the case is investigated by the CBI-three PILs demanding it are pending before the Orissa High Court-at least six ministers and a dozen other MLAs would be exposed.

Naveen's announcement of the vigilance inquiry in July last year, however, came much after Transparency International's Biswajit Mohanty had opened the proverbial Pandora's box. Orissa, which has an overall 17 per cent of the country's mineral wealth, including 98.39 per cent of its chromite, 30.64 per cent of iron ore and 28.33 per cent of manganese, has attracted several steel makers as well as mineral traders. The Opposition charges coincided with Mohanty releasing RTI documents depicting illegal over-production by big companies in the past few years, valued roughly at Rs 14,000 crore. Later in November, Odisha Jana Sammilani chief and journalist Rabi Das estimated the plunder at Rs 7,000 crore per annum since 1999-2000, in his PIL filed in the Supreme Court. Thus a rough estimate would tag the over-mining at over Rs 60,000 crore. "This shows either the entire system of governance has crumbled or everyone from the state Secretariat to the mine operators is involved in the loot," says Das.

The RTI documents circulated by Mohanty named Tata Steel too as a "plunderer" of iron ore and chromite worth Rs 1,753 crore in the last one decade, an allegation challenged by the company as "far from truth".

State Vigilance Director Anup Patnaik says the Government has asked them to be ruthless and spare none. "We have been given a free hand to raid any mine or persons including their political bosses without fear or pressure." The directorate has also filed an FIR against Ram Bahadur Thakur Ltd which was never given a lease and raided the mines and offices of S.R. Rungta and Indrani besides others. The directorate is also inquiring into the activities of the stateowned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC). A task force set up by the Government has Mines Secretary and OMC Chairman Ashok Dalwai as its convener, and few are convinced that there will be an honest inquiry. Dalwai, however, rubbishes the charge and doesn't agree with the word "scam". But Anup points to the violation of laws relating to forests, mines, environment besides the applicability of certain sections of the IPC and CrPC. Then there was the faulty transit permit system that gave a free hand to mine owners, for it is the miners who are allowed to print transit form for officials to sign.

However, the manner in which a recent India Bureau of Mines (IBM) inquiry into the allegations of illegal mining in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts was stopped midway has raised suspicions. Das has complained to the Union Ministry of Mines: "We want to know the reasons for withdrawal of the probe team. We strongly believe that the IBM has directly and indirectly helped largescale illegal mining in Orissa."

BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra asks, "How can Naveen Patnaik claim ignorance? Every day some 18,000 trucks move in Keonjhar. Forests were destroyed and wildlife was disturbed. Officials and ministers knew it. Only Naveen Patnaik did not know. Is he the chief minister or a blindfolded king?" Bijoy adds, "Every tenth person in Bhubaneswar is driving an SUV, Audi, BMW or Mercedes, and people think it is because of industrialisation which never happened. Instead, poverty has deepened." He could be right: according to the Tendulkar Committee report, about 57.2 per cent people of the state are poor.

The black economy generated by the illegal mining is also reflected in the spending pattern of BJD candidates during the Assembly elections. "Where did this money come from? And we found out that all the money had come from mines. It is the biggest scam in post-Independence India," says Das. It was also alleged that Pyarimohan, the chief architect of the BJD's massive victory, had flown to Joda mines before the elections in a helicopter provided by Triveni Earth-Movers. Pyarimohan laughs at the suggestion that he went there to collect funds and says, "I pity those who don't understand the mechanism of election. Do you think I will go out openly to collect funds? I met the mine owners in the inaccessible areas to ask them to perform their social responsibility and start peripheral development works, in the interest of the state and in their own. Besides, I had hired a helicopter and paid for it."

As more skeletons start tumbling out of the closet with each passing day, an impartial probe will hold the key to exposing the real culprits.

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